J.C. Penney building sold in Sharpstown

I have a story in today’s Business section about Sharpstown mall and the owner’s plans to renovate the property with or without the help of the Southwest Houston Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone.

The owner controls the mall’s central core, which houses the inline shops and kiosks. The anchors stores all have different owners.

One of them has just sold.

The 200,000-square-foot J.C. Penney building was recently purchased, according to a press release from Danny Nguyen Commercial, which represented the buyer, a group that hopes to lease the empty building to shops, service businesses or a school.

“The sale of this building says a lot about the outlook the buyers and many others, including I, have on the economy,” Nguyen said in the release. “History has proven that crisis breeds new opportunity and now, more than ever, it is the best time to plant the seeds of investment.”

The Situs Cos. sold the Penney’s building, which had been foreclosed on at a tax sale.

After one of my earlier stories on Sharpstown’s woes, I got a call from a reader who suggested the owner turn some of the space into living units.

She liked the idea of living right next to shops and restaurants.

The owners want to revitalize the languishing mall by adding a family entertainment area, a movie theater showing international films, a grocery store and a marketplace for local vendors to sell their wares.

They did something similar to a mall in Forth Worth called La Gran Plaza.